Social cohesion relies as much on accessible institutional support and everyday interactions with government and other service providers as on shared values. To encourage social cohesion, government must look at the types of structures that are in place to support connection and bonding, including culturally responsive mental health services, community hubs and settlement policies that support intercultural exchange.

Public debate around social cohesion often focuses on whether multiculturalism is succeeding, measured by how well (or not) people or groups are getting along with one another. This simplistic view leaves little space to consider what embedded, institutional support is needed to allow multicultural communities to live together effectively and thrive.

What is often missing from the debate is that social cohesion depends as much on accessible systems as on shared values. Social cohesion is built through everyday interactions in and with schools, health services, local government, community organisations and neighbourhoods. This is why coordinated support from government institutions plays a key role in shaping relationships and creating lasting bonds that allow a sense of belonging to form over time.

The Western Sydney region demonstrates that diversity itself is not a challenge to people’s experience of connection with their neighbours; what remains challenging are rather the types of structures that are in place to support them to do so. The new policy brief Building Belonging: Social Cohesion in Western Sydney presents practical policy directions, grounded in community expertise, that identify pathways for local assistance.

Mental health response as a social cohesion policy in Western Sydney

Mental health support is not often seen as an enabler of social cohesion, yet this view came across strongly in the discussions that formed the basis of the brief. At this point in time, international conflicts are increasingly affecting communities living in Western Sydney. The emotions of grief, anxiety and division experienced by individuals travel well beyond the conflict itself and through diaspora and (extended) family and elsewhere.

Public narratives and media representation can either strengthen or weaken cohesion; they can also heighten how people are feeling. This is why an appropriate mental health response is not simply a health intervention; rather, it is an active contribution to participation, trust and belonging.

Culturally safe and responsive mental health services are crucial to recognising the collective trauma that communities are undergoing. Supporting mental wellbeing enables communities to remain connected rather than becoming isolated during periods of social tensions; hence, policy that invests in these services is central to facilitating processes that allow social cohesion to emerge. This may include more resources to be directed to community health teams and additional training on cultural safety and responsiveness, consistent with the diversity of the region.

Community hubs as a source of both navigating services and interacting with others

Many barriers are not caused by a lack of services, but by a lack of awareness that these services exist. This is why ‘one-stop shop’ local community hubs help to triage the services that are needed.

Local support systems, both from government and connected providers, are often difficult to navigate and community members struggle to find what they need. Limited digital literacy is also an obstacle in understanding, accessing and acting on what is needed through an online interface. Language creates an additional barrier for refugees and migrants with limited English skills.

In the Western Sydney context, one-stop service hubs are valuable, place-based support that assists community members in both locating and receiving the help they need. These hubs provide multilingual staff, co-located services and a space where people can ask for assistance safely, as well as interact with one another. They are often the product of partnerships between community organisations, local governments (including libraries), and, more recently, NSW Police Force in some areas.

Trust develops through repeated positive interactions. Therefore, community hubs become crucial in providing a space where people feel listened and build confidence in government and other service providers. They are places where information is shared, relationships develop, and institutions become accessible rather than intimidating.

Local governments across Western Sydney should consider expand the network of community hubs by enhancing existing facilities and establishing new ones. This is what strengthens the vertical dimension of social cohesion.

Settlement approaches to encourage and sustain community connection

Settlement patterns in Western Sydney influence how social networks are established and how they grow. Maintaining cultural identity is compatible with building connections across communities, and a settlement policy that deliberately creates opportunities for intercultural engagement also promotes cohesion at the horizontal level.

While these approaches are already strong and provide critical support to Western Sydney communities, they are often focused on immediate practical needs.

Many initiatives already exist in the region, which allow different communities to come together; but social cohesion develops through repeated everyday contact, rather than occasional multicultural festivals alone. This is why allocating resources that support the delivery of regular public programs in neighbourhoods, community spaces, local institutions, schools, sports venues and libraries are vital. The recommendation here is to design systems that encourage connection.

A policy approach that is enabling, rather than punitive, is designed so that relevant systems are built for and around communities’ needs. These recommendations have something important in common: they all shift policy away from responding to social problems after they emerge, and direct it towards creating the early conditions that allow belonging to flourish.

Mental health services strengthen resilience, community service hubs build trust, and better integration policies improve everyday interaction. Together, these strategies show that social cohesion is not achieved through symbolic commitments or communications campaigns: belonging is experienced through everyday interactions with institutions; trust is built locally; and cohesion depends as much on shared values as it does on accessible systems.

Strong social cohesion requires policies that are relational as well as structural. The path to this necessitates sustained local investment and government support in institutions, services and local relationships that enable all communities to participate, contribute and feel that they belong.

Dr Valentina Baú is Co-Director of the Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI) and Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University. 

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